Policy on Ethics and Editorial Best Practices
InCID: Revista de Ciência da Informação e Documentação follows the Best Practice Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), seeking to guarantee integrity and remaining vigilant against misconduct that may occur in the publication process, such as: plagiarism, self-plagiarism, citation manipulation, data falsification, ghost authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, and manipulation of the peer review process. The journal is committed to the ethical aspects involved in all phases of the publication process, which implies that authors, editors, reviewers, and members of the editorial and scientific boards must respect these principles.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
It is the responsibility of the reviewers to adhere to the stipulated timeframe for evaluation, informing the editorial team of possible delays or the inability to analyze the text. Their work must prioritize confidentiality, ensuring the secrecy of privileged information obtained through the reading of manuscripts and declining texts that present conflicts of interest, affinity, or any type of relationship with one of the authors.
The evaluation must be conducted exclusively based on academic merit. The review must be objective, clear, and constructive to assist the author, and may indicate uncited sources. Communication with the editor is crucial in cases where texts with substantial similarity or overlap are identified.
Responsibilities of the Editor
The journal editor is responsible for the decision regarding which articles will be published. It is the editor's duty to ensure the fairness of the evaluation, taking academic content as the sole parameter without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality, or political philosophy.
No information regarding works submitted for publication may be disclosed, except for that which may be important for the reviewers. The editor must be vigilant and take necessary measures in situations of ethical complaints regarding a submitted manuscript or published article. The editor and editorial team must ensure an adequate selection of reviewers, maintaining a relevant and updated database of reviewers.
Responsibilities of Authors
Authorship of the work must be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Persons who participated in certain aspects of the research project should be listed as contributors. The journal recommends reading the text "Order of authors: best practices for authorship attribution," available at https://www.aguia.usp.br/noticias/ordem-de-autores/.
The lead author must ensure that all appropriate co-authors are included in the article. The person responsible for submitting the manuscript to InCID guarantees having obtained the consent of all authors. Changes in authorship cannot be made during the editorial process and/or after the final acceptance of the manuscript.
The author guarantees the copyright and grants the Journal the right of first publication. The author must guarantee the unpublished status of the work and that it is not being evaluated for publication by another journal simultaneously, nor has it been published previously (in part or in whole). The use of material previously published by the same author(s) must be explicitly indicated and justified to avoid suspicions of self-plagiarism.
To analyze originality, works submitted to InCID will be verified using text similarity detection tools, such as iThenticate Similarity Check and Turnitin. A lack of scientific integrity will result in the exclusion of the manuscript from the evaluation process.
InCID encourages authors to make the raw data of their work available in public repositories when pertinent. Authors must disclose in the manuscript any financial or other conflict of interest that may influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript, as well as disclose all sources of financial support for the project. The opinion of the Research Ethics Committee must be forwarded upon submission of the manuscript for research involving human participants, vulnerable groups, etc.
Conditions for the Use of AI (Artificial Intelligence)
The journal follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) regarding its position on the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence). Therefore, AI tools cannot be listed as authors of an article. It is considered that AI tools do not meet the requirements for authorship, as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work. As non-legal entities, they cannot assert the presence or absence of conflicts of interest, nor manage copyright contracts and licenses.
Authors using AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, in the production of images or graphical elements of the article, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent by disclosing, in the Materials and Methods (or similar section) of the article, how the AI tool was used and which specific tool was employed. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, including parts produced by an AI tool, and are therefore liable for any breach of publication ethics.
Retraction Policy
In cases involving suspected lack of scientific integrity, an investigation will be carried out by the editorial team with a view to ensuring the standard of scientific and ethical rigor.
In the event of confirmed misconduct by authors, the article will be withdrawn from the evaluation process. When misconduct is committed by one or more of the editors, they will be removed from their duties at the journal. If misconduct is committed by an ad hoc reviewer, they will not provide further contributions to the journal, and their function as a reviewer will be deactivated. Misconduct identified after publication will imply corrections or even the full retraction of the article from InCID.
